May 24, 2013

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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

The Red Wings celebrate just moments after their Game 4 victory over Chicago on Thursday at Joe Louis Arena. / Kirthmon F. Dozier/DFP

It can happen

Only 24 teams in NHL history have blown a 3-1 series lead in the playoffs, including the Wings twice: 1942

Maple Leafs 4, Red Wings 3

The Wings actually had a 3-0 series lead before losing the final four games of the Stanley Cup Finals. They scored just one goal combined in the final two games of the series. 1991

Blues 4, Red Wings 3

The first year of the current 22-season playoff streak might have been the most painful. The Wings’ offense — led by a young Steve Yzerman, who had a had trick in Game 1 — went cold in the final three games, scoring just three goals combined against the, um, not-quite-immortal goalie Vincent Riendeau. (The Wings traded for Riendeau the next season, interestingly enough, and he appeared in 32 games over three seasons in Detroit.)

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CHICAGO — There are no guarantees in hockey, but sometimes there are great opportunities. The Red Wings have created a doozy of the latter, and it’s hard to think they won’t take advantage of it.

The Wings hold a 3-1 edge in their series against the Chicago Blackhawks, a top-seeded team suddenly precariously close to toppling in the second round of the playoffs. The Wings have the first of three opportunities to advance Saturday night at United Center (8 p.m., NBC), and if it doesn’t happen then, there’s a shot at doing at home and make for a very memorable Memorial Day.

Even the Wings are surprised they’re in this position. Not that they’ve lacked faith in themselves; it’s just the sheer improbability of suddenly being one win from the Western Conference finals after being so close to missing the playoffs entirely a month ago. Jimmy Howard, whose openness and honesty matches the fantastic goaltending he’s been providing, said minutes after shutting out the Blackhawks, 2-0, in Game 4 that he’d have picked the Blackhawks to win the series, too, were he a journalist.

“You know, I think if I were in your shoes, I probably would have done the same thing,” Howard said. “They had an unbelievable year this year. They were playing great hockey coming into the playoffs. They’re a great team.”

This is what’s special about hockey, though: Great teams don’t guarantee great results. It’s not like the NBA, where talent trumps tenacity. The Blackhawks came into the series with more depth, and they still have it. What the Wings have — in addition to Howard, who has added playoff MVP to his status as the team’s regular-season MVP — is that indefinable something that is seen so often in the NHL, when a lower-seeded team becomes unstoppable. Like the 2003 Anaheim Ducks and 2006 Edmonton Oilers, both of whom upset the-then mighty Wings.

It would be a disaster for the Presidents’ Trophy Blackhawks to lose in this round, and it would mandate organizational changes. The Wings, on the other hand, are playing with house money. They’re playing with such a hot hand, they barely remember they finished seventh.

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“I don’t think we think about that,” Henrik Zetterberg said. “It’s more we go out and focus on playing hockey. We don’t really look at where we finished in the regular season. It’s a new season, playoffs, we know that.

“We’ve been through it a lot. We’ve been the top seed and lost in the first round. It’s a new season. You can’t really care what you did in the regular season. You’ve got to play good hockey when playoffs start, otherwise it goes fast.”

Zetterberg has set the tone for his teammates with the way he’s flustered Chicago captain Jonathan Toews. “That sends a message,” Howard said, “to the rest of the team.”

Howard went on to say the Wings have to match the Blackhawks’ desperation the rest of this series, but really, it’s the Blackhawks who are on notice to match Detroit’s determination. It’s Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa who must lead the way for their teammates. It’s Chicago’s third line that must separate itself from Joakim Andersson and his wingers, Damien Brunner and Gustav Nyquist, a trio that’s been a huge factor as Detroit and Chicago’s top two lines have canceled one another.

The Wings are back-checking to perfection, are killing penalties with fervor, are showing stick-to-it-ness, as Mike Babcock likes to call it. There are spots to shore up, like starts, but slow starts are forgivable when the finishes are so flourished.

To a man, the Wings have made sure to note they have won only three games, not four. And this is a team with players who know there are no guarantees no matter how much a series looks in hand. Zetterberg and Howard, Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall, along with Jonathan Ericsson, Justin Abdelkader, Daniel Cleary, Valtteri Filppula and Johan Franzen were part of the 2009 Stanley Cup finals team that held 2-0 and 3-2 leads over the Penguins, only to ultimately lose.

No guarantees, then, but goodness, what an opportunity the Wings have given themselves. They haven’t been to the Western Conference finals since that 2009 run. They weren’t expected to go there this year, but here they are; so close, reservations are but a victory away.

Contact Helene St. James: 313-222-2295 or hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.